Remembering the Yankees Side of Al Rosen

Al Rosen possibly had the best season ever by a third basemen in his career while playing with the Cleveland Indians, that side of him you know, but this blog post is more about his Yankees tenure. It has been well documented, especially since his passing late in the week at age 91, how he got the nicknames “Flip” and “The Hebrew Hammer” and less of the two years he was the Yankees President and CEO.

When Rosen retired from baseball in 1956 he spent two decades as a stockbroker, 22 years to be exact, before making his triumphant return to Major League Baseball. Rosen quickly became regarded as a GM who still thought like a player of the game and became the only former MVP to also earn baseball’s Executive of the Year award. The Yankees gave him his return back to baseball in 1978 when the team and owner George Steinbrenner named him as their President and CEO.

After spending two seasons with the Yankees the Houston Astros came calling giving him the same job from the 1980-1985 season. In 1985 the San Francisco Giants named Rosen their president and general manager which would be a position he would have held until the 1992 season. Rosen made an immediate impact with the Yankees obviously as the team won the World Series in his first season but possibly his finest moment was bringing the last place Giants in 1985 all the way to an NL West title in 1987 and the NL pennant in 1989.

Rosen worked in the game like he played in the game and showed a true love for the sport and the game. Rosen will truly be missed as Major League Baseball lost a great man on March 15, 2015. May Al Rosen rest in peace and our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to his friends, family and anyone who was affected by his passing.